Canberra dismisses Korean 'rhetoric'

The Howard Government has dismissed as more "inflammatory rhetoric" North Korea's claim that an Australian-led naval exercise was an act of "military provocation".

The volatile North Korean Government predicted that the simulated pursuit and boarding of a vessel carrying weapons of mass destruction at the weekend was a precursor to a US attack.

"This joint military exercise is a military operation that comes before the US military attack against us," North Korea was quoted as saying by South Korea's national Yonhap news agency.

"This is a military provocation."

But a spokesman for Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Exercise Pacific Protector, involving the 11 member nations of the Proliferation Security Initiative, was not aimed specifically at North Korea.

"The proliferation security initiative is not aimed at any specific country but at preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction," he said. "If North Korea is not involved in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, we'd say they have nothing to be concerned about."

The two-day joint exercise involving Australia, the US, Japan and France took place in the Coral Sea, off Australia's east coast.

After watching the exercise, Defence Minister Robert Hill said: "It sends a message to all those who may for one reason or another contemplate the transfer of weapons of mass destruction."

An unnamed senior US official told Associated Press the exercises served as a special warning to North Korea and Iran because of the relatively advanced stages of their nuclear weapons programs.